Malcahuitl (MH785r)

Malcahuitl (MH785r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Malcahuitl is attested here as a man's name. It appears to have something to do with a captive (malli), but the -cahuitl is unclear. The captive, a human head in profile, looking toward the viewer's right, is being held by his hair.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Sometimes a glyph that looks much like this is labeled Malcahual. See other glyphs below showing hair pulling that also have other readings. To pull or cut someone's hair in Nahua culture was a grave insult and cause of intense emotion. Sonya Lipsett-Rivera writes about the ritual humiliation of hair pulling in Religion in New Spain, eds. Susan Schroeder and Stafford Poole (2007), 79.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

ant^o malcavitl

Gloss Normalization:

Antonio Malcahuitl

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (male)

Hair (human or animal)

Hair pulling

Names (personal and/or theonym)

War or Conflict

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Keywords:

nombres de hombres, cautivos, tirón de pelo

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

mal(li), war captive, prisoner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/malli
cahual(li), someone abandoned, such as a widow or widower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cahualli
cahu(itl), time, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cahuitl

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 785r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=644&st=image

Image Source, Rights:

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: